Hi, my partner has just been asked to make 18 crates for moving some large paintings to the usa...has anyone got any idea how much people usually charge/pay for this....
he is an experienced carpenter and deals in art storage/moving all the time but these would be his first crates...the woman is calling back in a couple of hours so any help would be great

Maybe have a look on Ebay to see if/what people are charging.Or just google it and see if you can find any info.

mmmm done that already with very little luck which is why i came on here

Why not just calculate the time to make, material cost and some profit, I'm pretty sure it will come to less than the cost of specialist removers and you will know that you will not lose out.

You could be cheeky and ask http://www.abrahamscases.co.uk what they charge for a case the same size, they make plywood cases.

Rob

thanks rob, that is really helpful, I will speak to them tomorrow

like rob - i'd work on what materials cost plus what he usually charges ph or whatever. then she takes it and he's got extra work or she doesn't and he's no worse off...

if they're cheaper elsewhere than he can make then he won't want to undercut his usual price just to get the work .
He might want to point out though that his are tailor made to the artwork sizes and also what sort of materials - shipping to US you'll want strong wood not some flimsy stuff thats going to break first time the carrier throws crate across room ( and they do folks - all the time a courier friend said they have xx hours to unload and reload xx crates of parcels - what they do is stand and unload and as they do they don't carefully carry eat work to next lorry/crate - even if covered in fragile stickers - they throw them in the right direction and go over and load when there's a decent pile there...)

thanks jeannie, he has done exactly that, and talked to a friend who makes them for a living so his prices are about right...now just waiting to hear...good advice about wood thickness, the paintings are worth about £12000 each!

can see why he wants custom made ones then If we're talking about such a lot of ££value then it would be a good idea to ensure that you have a written copy of that he is happy with the crates. you don't want to be landed with a bill for "faulty" crates leading to damaged works afterwards. Just have a disclaimer saying he is happy with quality of crates for purpose of shipping - something like that. self protection.